


A Critical Rant

by HappyCamper41 (orphan_account)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Rants, Reviews
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 21:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18080822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/HappyCamper41
Summary: WARNING: This isn't a story at all, this is just a discussion of what I feel are some of Miraculous's problems, and where I think the show has gone wrong in some regards.





	1. Chapter 1

First, I’m going to make a disclaimer of sorts. I’ve been enjoying Miraculous for roughly a year and a half now, and I do like the show a lot. I may come off as a bit harsh in this rant, or like I can’t see the positive side of things, but just know that I enjoy the show and fandom. However, the best way to ensure that reasonable complaints are ignored is to not voice them, and I hope that the things I criticize are reasonable, and accurate.

With that out of the way, I’ll begin discussing some broad complaints I have with the series as a whole, hitting my biggest point first, which is the show’s utter failure when it comes to continuity, and its unwillingness to embrace permanent changes to its lore in almost every circumstance.

Throughout the course of Miraculous, we’ve had numerous near reveals, and countless teases of progression of the plot, that are simply erased by the end of the episode. For instance, during the course of early season 2, both Adrien and Gabriel learn each other’s identities, and are ‘disproven’ through trickery by the end of the episode (Gorizilla and The Collector, respectively).

Those specific instances, however, are easy to overlook and forgive, because any reveal between those two would completely hamper the plot’s ability to continue, and force a confrontation between the two characters. What is not easy to forgive, however, is the way that the romance between Adrien and Marinette is stalled whenever possible. The line ‘she’s just a friend’ has become a meme in the fandom, and for good reason. Dark Cupid, Gigantitan, Frozer, Backwarder, and Stormy Weather 2 are all episodes in which Marinette seeks to confess her feelings to the clueless boy, but a potential viewer could skip virtually all of these episodes, and not be missing anything in regards to their relationship, or lack thereof.

And then there’s Troublemaker. An episode where Adrien goes from being a bit slow about love (understandable because of his sheltered upbringing), to flat out incompetent. Troublemaker is the most clear demonstration possible of when the show does something for dramatic effect (Adrien learning about her crush, and even teasing her at the end of the episode), and then refusing to acknowledge it at all in future episodes. 

Adrien knows damn well that Marinette has photographs of him around her room, and clearly doesn’t believe her excuses (just look at his smirk during the scene in the locker room), yet the show is insistent that Adrien is completely unaware of Marinette’s crush on him, as seen in Frozer, Weredad, Backwarder, and Stormy Weather 2. 

The best example of a failing in continuity and permanent change that I’ve noticed is actually in the Season 3 premiere episode, Chameleon. I’ve written a crack fic voicing many of my concerns with the characterization in that episode, but something particular regarding continuity caught my attention recently. Suppose that a viewer was to skip all of Season 2, and move directly from Volpina into Chameleon. Regardless of the literally dozens of plot points that unfold in Season 2, a viewer would barely notice the difference. The only thing that would be lacking is the cliffhanger with Master Fu, but my point still largely stands. 

This doesn’t work. This is bad. It’s one thing that the show’s plot moves slowly. This is understandable, since the show will have 78 episodes by the end of the current season, but the way that the show teases progress, and then opts to ignore it in favor of asinine logic severely damages the viewing experience. I’m stuck wondering in every episode, ‘did x episode happen yet? Is x episode (usually Troublemaker) even canon?’ There’s a lot more I could say, and a lot more examples of the show’s continuity being mishandled or completely dismissed, but I’ll move on for now.

My second, next-biggest criticism of the show, is the rigid focus that it places on Marinette, and a couple general problems with her characterization (mostly minor). 

Despite being a titular character alongside Ladybug, Chat Noir is largely shelved. Chat Noir is in theory the show’s costar, and the leading male role. The show says many times that the two of them are ‘partners,’ but anybody paying attention is fully aware that this is a blatant example of the cardinal sin of storytelling: telling, not showing. 

Ignoring Chat’s performance in battle for just a second (we’ll get to that), let’s look at how the city treats him. First and foremost, Alya’s blog is called the Ladyblog, purely created as a platform to worship the hero, mostly ignoring her fellow hero. This wouldn’t bother me, as Ladybug is shown to be the better hero, if it weren’t for the fact that in Origins, Alya is saved by Chat TWICE! 

Moreover, on both of these occasions, Alya’s interference leaves Chat defenseless against Stoneheart, as he had to spend his baton to rescue her. Alya shows no remorse about handicapping him, and instead just gushes about how awesome Ladybug is.

This obviously goes far beyond Alya, however. During Catalyst, the first part of the season 2 finale, Volpina creates an illusion of Chat Noir literally DYING in front of the city, turning to ash before their very eyes. However, when Chat returns, very little attention is given to this fact. Almost all of the city’s joy is reserved for the fact that Ladybug hasn’t been evilized. Not once does anybody say “thank god Chat’s alive!” or “how is Chat alive?” Instead, the discussing revolves almost exclusively around Ladybug’s apparent akumatization.

But now the fun stuff. Let’s talk about how Chat performs in battle. The Ladybug earrings and Chat ring are stated to be equals, partners, yet the show virtually never shows them to be that. Throughout the show’s nearly 55 episodes, there are only a handful of episodes that I would say the two heroes are shown as equals in fighting ability, such as Troublemaker or Riposte. 

Meanwhile, there are countless episodes where Chat is incapacitated, usually in stupid ways, forcing Ladybug to save the day all by herself. This is sometimes done in clever ways, such as in Dark Cupid, but more often than not, it’s just an excuse to let Ladybug shine.

My memory isn’t perfect, so please point out any factual errors in this analysis. Chat is permanently removed from the battle or otherwise incapacitated in Dark Cupid, Princess Fragrance, Puppeteer, Reflekta, Despair Bear, Zombizou, Style Queen, Malediktator, Anansi, and Chameleon. In all of these episodes, Chat has been removed from battle, forcing Ladybug to solve the problems herself. There are three episodes in which I would call Ladybug “incapacitated.” They are Reverser, Sandboy, and Weredad. In all of those three episodes, it is still ultimately Ladybug’s plan that wins the battle, and that’s if she doesn’t just do it herself despite being weakened like in Weredad.

The point is that even though Ladybug has a few instances of being weakened like Chat, she is NEVER removed from the game, like they do to Chat incessantly. 

The point is easily made that Ladybug is needed to purify the akuma, and win the battle. Essentially, the writers wrote themselves into a corner, and HAVE to have her present every time. But I call BS (no offense) on that argument. There are numerous occasions where the akuma could still easily be captured despite Chat’s removal. What I mean is that in many episodes, like Chameleon or Dark Cupid, the villain is defeated, but Chat Noir is restored to his normal self in time that he could purify the akuma. Meaning that if the roles were reversed, there would be no issue. The decision to have Chat taken out every time is done by the writers of the show to make Ladybug look like an awesome hero, and not out of any mechanical necessity.

This isn’t just limited to Chat Noir. We’ve had four instances where Ladybug has called a backup hero (note: Chat Noir never gets to do this). In all of these cases, like in every episode, Ladybug has still been the one to devise the winning plan. Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen Bee just aren’t around enough for it to be as noticeable failures as Chat. In fact, during the Season 2 Finale, all three auxiliary heroes are akumatized, making them controlled by Hawkmoth at an even higher rate than Chat (66% for Bee, 50% for Carapace, and 33% for Rena).

Even in battles where Chat isn’t taken out, Ladybug is almost always shown to be the superior fighter, with Chat always getting smacked around. This is done not as a way of saying that Chat is incompetent, but to show us that Ladybug is good, and to establish credibility for the villain.

This is a HUGE storytelling problem for me. I’m totally fine with the show writing Ladybug as a badass hero, but their way of showing it, more often than not, is to make Chat Noir a TERRIBLE superhero. This is a concept that pertains to a lot more than just Ladybug and Chat Noir as heroes, but to Marinette’s civilian life as well. I might elaborate on this in a later ‘chapter’ of this rant.

Let me use another example to point out how the show both focuses too much on Marinette, and serves her with its morality. Especially in Season 1, the show’s main two supporting characters are almost certainly Adrien and Alya, Marinette’s crush and best friend, respectively. Let me ask this: do those characters ever interact?

The answer is almost never. They have a quick chat in Mr. Pigeon, when Adrien mistakes Marinette’s designs for being Alya’s, and we also see a flashback of a conversation between them in Befana. Despite being in almost every episode, these characters have never had an extended conversation about anything. 

The first time I watched Sapotis (the episode where Alya becomes Rena Rouge), I found myself bewildered by Chat and Rena’s interaction, and I couldn’t immediately place why. That was when I realized that despite both character’s importance to the show, they likely exchanged more lines as Rena and Chat than they have as their civilian selves for the ENTIRE SHOW. 

You might be thinking, who cares if Alya and Adrien talk? I don’t really, it was just something weird that I noticed (especially since Adrien is on Alya’s list of recent contacts in Dark Cupid), but it occured to me that the show doesn’t like having girls talk to Adrien.

It’s an odd observation, but it carries some weight. Other than Marinette, Adrien has had three girls pursue him: Chloe, Lila, and Kagami. And with the possible exception of Kagami, these girls are written as BAD. Chloe gets a redemption, but it’s worth noting that her redemption coincides with the show limiting her interactions with Adrien (bear with me here, I know this sounds a bit crazy).

This is because the show’s morality is CLEARLY built to favor Marinette. Any girl who’s interested in Adrien is BAD, as far as the writers are concerned, and Marinette is always GOOD. Even Kagami, one of my favorite characters, is intentionally written as being rude to Marinette in Frozer, far more rude than she was in Riposte, as a way of showcasing this broken morality to the audience. Consequently, ‘good’ female characters such as Alya, and all of Marinette’s other friends, never interact with Adrien. 

The same cannot be said for Marinette’s love interests. Excluding Chat Noir, three boys have shown an interest in Marinette throughout the show, Nino, Nathaniel, and Luka. All of these boys are shown in a very positive light by the show, because their interest in Marinette serves as a vehicle for the writers to showcase that Marinette is a likeable person. Luka obviously has other reasons to exist, like making Adrien feel jealous, and to generally stir up drama, but my point stands about him being a completely good character, whereas the girls interested in Adrien are all bad, or at the very least complicated (Kagami).

Which leads to my next point, about Lila. The show decided that it needed a believable mean girl, since Chloe wasn’t at all filling the role. Chloe failed as a mean girl, because she was HATED by pretty much everybody at school. The entire class knew that Chloe was a despicable person, even Adrien as we see in Kung Food, which meant that she was almost NEVER a threat to Marinette.

So, to fill that void, they created Lila. I’ve written an entire crack fic about how I feel regarding Lila in Chameleon, so I’m going to leave it at that for now. I may continue this review / rant / whatever, so let me know in the comments what you think. Have I gone completely batsh*t crazy? Am I spot on? Somewhere in the middle? Should I just shut up and go back to making jokes at the show's expense (that's fun btw)? I’ll be more than happy to have a reasonable discussion down below.


	2. Adventures of Animaestro and a Convoluted Morality System

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of this is a bit redundant from the last 'chapter,' but I decided to clarify some of what I meant regarding Adrien.

Originally, I was going to write an entire rant about how the show has handled Master Fu, or maybe something about the show’s inconsistent mechanics regarding the miraculous themselves, but upon seeing Animaestro, and seeing the comments on my previous ‘chapter,’ I felt compelled to first write a bit more about how the show seems to be mishandling its protagonists: Marinette and Adrien.

Overall, I actually enjoyed Animaestro. I thought that it was definitely one of the stronger entries of the season so far, what with an interesting akuma design, and the return of Kagami, a character I thoroughly enjoy, but there is one huge, glaring problem that I have with the episode as a whole. What, or rather who, that problem is, is Marinette herself.

At times, the show has made Marinette overpowered, especially as Ladybug. It has given her things she doesn’t necessarily deserve, and handed her talents that aren’t logical. In Gamer, she reveals that she just happens to be better at video games than Max and Adrien (a formerly homeschooled boy who rarely leaves the house, yeah right), and then ends up surrendering her spot on the team to Max out of sympathy. However, since the show wanted Marinette to be both a generous person (surrendering her spot), and an expert gamer, Adrien ends up handing over his slot to Marinette.

In Riposte, Marinette tries out for the fencing team, despite Tikki telling the audience that she’s only been reviewing the rules for less than a week. At the end of Origins, Marinette stands up to Chloe, and the bully simply takes the hit and sits down, despite having comebacks for days when Alya confronted her earlier.

My point is that the show has a track record with having the world serve its protagonist.

However, it has never before reached a point where I will flat out say I don’t like Marinette. In Gamer, among other episodes, Marinette still maintains that she is a good person, albeit extremely talented.

In Animaestro, however, Marinette crosses a line in my opinion. When commanded by Chloe, she decides to quite literally BULLY Kagami by sticking gum on her shoe, and then observes while Chloe attempts to ruin Kagami’s outfit, just so that Kagami’s unable to attend the movie premier, and sit next to Adrien.

In it of itself, this didn’t upset me. In any work of fiction, our protagonist needs to make some mistakes. Marinette has shown before that she can be jealous at times, especially when she humiliated Lila in Volpina. However, unlike in Volpina, Marinette shows almost no remorse for her actions, and suffers no CONSEQUENCES for her actions. 

The only thing that Marinette acknowledges having done wrong is working with Chloe, wondering aloud how she thought it could’ve ended in anything but disaster. And shortly thereafter, Marinette laments that Adrien and Kagami seem to be even closer than they were before, as Adrien has been a perfect gentleman taking care of her. 

Call me out if I’ve misunderstood, but the show almost seems to be implying that the only problem with Marinette’s actions were that they DIDN’T work, and not that they might’ve actually succeeded. Marinette’s remarks beg questions that the show doesn’t ask or answer. If her and Chloe’s ‘plan’ had ended in Adrien and Kagami hating each other, would that have made it okay? What exactly are Kagami’s ulterior motives, and how are they different from Marinette’s?

Marinette: He's too nice to see what [Kagami’s] really up to!

What is she really up to, exactly? Trying to get close with Adrien? How is that different from what Marinette’s doing? And most importantly, calling Adrien ‘too nice to see’ is both insulting and telling, showing that Marinette thinks she has the right to make big decisions like that for him.

I repeat: I have no problem with Marinette making mistakes, or even big mistakes like this one. What I do have a problem with is when Marinette suffers no consequences for her actions. Her and Chloe’s operation leads to the Thomas Astruc character being humiliated for the upteenth time, but Astruc ultimately GIVES MARINETTE HIS PASS TO THE MOVIE. Despite helping to ruin the guy’s day, Marinette is rewarded.

Does Adrien see what his ‘friend’ Marinette tried to do to Kagami? Better yet, what she tried to do to him? After all, sitting Kagami on a seat that would ruin her dress would easily start an argument between the two of them. But he doesn’t find out. He doesn’t even catch Chloe. He just goes on being blissfully ignorant, like he always is. 

After Frozer, and the way that Chat acted so immaturely during the battle, I found myself struggling to support him and Ladybug having a relationship. But wow, Frozer’s effects on my opinion of Ladynoir are NOTHING compared to how Animaestro makes me see Adrienette. At least in Frozer, the episode seems to acknowledge that Chat’s actions are immature (I’d liked to have seen him apologize, but whatever). But in Animaestro… Marinette’s actions are neither called out nor punished, by anybody. 

This is ignoring the way she treated her parents this episode, which is arguably just as bad as how she treated Kagami and Adrien. Her parents, who run a business, and are catering a large event with numerous celebrities, needed help, and were hesitant to accept Marinette’s, because of her clumsiness. Marinette, however, assures them that she won’t cause any problems for them, and that her crush on Adrien won’t get in the way.

And yet, when Adrien shows up, Marinette wastes a whole bag of macarons with Chloe, that the two of them use to LITTER all over the theater, all the while shirking the responsibilities that her parents trusted her with. Moreover, when she drops the macaron she prepared for Adrien, she makes a spectacle of herself rushing around to get it, which definitely didn’t look good. 

Like I said, this is such a turn around from what we normally get. Normally, Marinette doesn’t act this immaturely, and when she does (Volpina), she gets called out for it. I guess my main problem is that the show could’ve pretty much just replaced Marinette with Lila or Sabrina, and I wouldn’t have batted an eye. 

Consider the scene where Kagami first enters, and she greets Adrien. Marinette and Chloe are behind Adrien, arms folded across their chests, GLARING at Kagami like she just kicked a kitten or something. Since when in Miraculous… I take that back, since when in FICTION have we been expected to root for the mean girls in the back giving dirty looks to the new girl who is merely talking to the cute guy? The answer, obviously, is that we don’t. Kagami is just doing what Marinette and Chloe want to do. They just aren’t happy that it seems to be working. 

I will, however, give credit where credit is due. As superheroes in Animaestro, Chat Noir and Ladybug are absolutely portrayed to be partners in this episode. The two of them work together in figuring out the akuma’s weakness, and how to beat him, and the villain surprisingly doesn’t exclusively hit Chat. My only real problems with their portrayal of Adrien in this episode are as his civilian self, and even then there’s nothing new to speak of. Focusing more on Marinette did make sense for the context of the episode. 

But the way Adrien gets shelved in this episode is more subtle, and it happens all the time on this show.

Unless I’ve missed something, both Adrien and Marinette have three designs: Adrien has his casual clothes, his fencing uniform, and his formal suit from Style Queen and Animaestro, while Marinette has her casual design, her bedclothes, and now her maid outfit from Animaestro. So, ignoring the Christmas special, the two of them are actually tied. Yay! (Also, I guess Adrien sleeps in his day clothes?)

Except not. Hold the yay. Now I’m going to look at the transformation sequences. Marinette has five, one in her casual clothes, her bedclothes, her maid costume, an aquatic transformation, an ice transformation, and even a special version in Origins for when she wasn’t confident in herself. 

Adrien, on the other hand, has only two: his casual clothes, and his ice transformation. His aquatic transformation was skipped, and if you pay attention, any episode where Adrien isn’t in his casual clothes, his transformation is skipped, because it isn’t designed. In Riposte, he’s inside the sarcophagus, in Animaestro it’s skipped since he’s wearing his suit, and in other episodes, Adrien demonstrates that he has the magic supermodel ability to change clothes in seconds.

For example, in Queen Wasp (I rewatched this one to double check), Adrien is wearing his formal suit. He’s talking with Marinette and Chloe’s families, and sees Chloe transform. Next, he’s shown riding home with his father, still wearing the suit. Next, he’s shown running into his room, slamming the door behind him, suddenly in his casual clothes, and then transforming. Meaning that Adrien changed clothes between the car and his room, somehow, that way the animators didn’t have to animate a transformation from his formal suit. 

It sounds like a petty animation complaint for a show on a limited budget, and it is, but it’s emblematic of the broader favoritism the shows gives to Marinette. Marinette gets a special transformation for every design she has, and the show has only ever skipped her transformation once, in Weredad (also kind of in Stormy Weather 2, but the flashbacks made that all very confusing). Chat, on the other hand, gets to have his transformation skipped on a regular basis, such as in Despair Bear, Prime Queen, Riposte, Gorizilla, Zombizou, Malediktator, Chameleon, Weredad, Christmaster, and Animaestro, just to name a few (don’t @ me, I have good memory). Granted, some of those have good cinematic reasons to skip Chat’s transformation, like Gorizilla, but the broader point still stands.

Things like this are not at all important to the narrative, but it has significance for the viewing experience. When the writers are perfectly willing to cut out Chat’s transformation on a regular basis, and practically never skip Ladybug’s, it really shows who the show has priority towards, despite calling them a team.

I’ve gone a bit off track, so I’ll try to reel it in.

To me, the biggest problems in Seasons 1-2 were the continuity, and Adrien’s lack of involvement / the show serving Marinette. However, in Season 3, I have to move that over to the show’s morals. Chameleon and Animaestro in particular have left me questioning if Thomas and the crew have any idea what they’re doing. 

Personally, I don’t think that this show is too far gone or anything, regardless of how pissy I sound in this rant. I complain a lot, but anything that evokes emotion in the viewer is doing its job in a way. The fact that I go on fan websites and write several hundred word critiques shows that I do care a lot about this show.

And while Season 3 has been bumpy so far… it’s only just begun. I might end up eating my words with the whole Marinette versus Kagami issue, if Marinette gets called out in a later episode. Maybe the continuity will be better this season, since it’s been pretty decent so far. Maybe Marinette will reel it in a bit, and maybe Adrien will actually get some meaningful character development (especially considering the synopsis of some of the later episodes). I haven’t given up, I’m just worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks a lot for all the comments! It really does mean a lot. Like I said, sorry if this is repetitive from last time, but seeing Animaestro motivated me to write this one.


	3. What even is a Miraculous?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time, I wonder why I don't have answers to a lot of questions about this show...

You know something that doesn’t make sense? How is it that both the Cat Ring and the Ladybug Earrings are considered to be  _ the most powerful _ of the Miraculous, as directly stated in Origins, yet Hawkmoth is able to defeat the two of them together in combat? Why is is that Volpina, a direct creation of the Butterfly Miraculous, is exponentially more powerful than the actual fox miraculous, as we see in Sapotis? You know something that’s really inconsistent? The mechanics of the miraculous in general.

 

For someone like myself, and I’ll be bold and assume the average viewer as well, I care a lot more about the character interactions than I ever have about the exact limitations of the Butterfly. But I’ll also be bold enough to assume that, like me, most people still do care at least  _ somewhat  _ about these things, and we all find it annoying when the show lacks  _ consistency _ on these things. Which is why I decided to take a break from talking about my issues with character growth or continuity, and instead go directly after the show’s mechanics, and point out things that don’t work, from a practical standpoint, or things that have been laughably inconsistent. Like I said, these things are not show-breaking, not like character problems can be, but they are annoying, and they damage  _ immersion _ quite a bit when they’re noticed.

 

Let’s start with Ladybug. Her primary power, the ‘lucky charm,’ is a bit of joke. It’s a writer’s convenience, and it kills almost all tension in the scene when she uses it. The item she gets is rarely foreshadowed, and almost never makes sense. It’s purely a signal to the audience that it’s time for our heroes to take back control of the fight. 

 

But ignoring those problems with the lucky charm, let’s talk about the consistency. The show can’t seem to make up its mind on whether or not Ladybug is just really clever in how she uses the charm, or if she has special powers as Ladybug that allow her to see the solution. In fact, we get a pretty  _ blatant _ contradiction. In Troublemaker, Ladybug uses her charm, gets a broken plate, and then proceeds to look around the room with a black and white filter, and is initially horrified that she can’t figure out what to do. She and Chat Noir speculate that her power might not be working because she lost an earring initially.

 

However, in a more recent episode, Oblivio, the black and white filter is used when Marinette hasn’t even transformed, meaning that it’s  _ definitely  _ just her being clever, and the filter is merely a way of demonstrating her thought process (especially since Adrien gets to it there, which was the most WTF moment so far in the season). So which is it!? You can’t have it both ways, either she’s really smart, or it’s a superpower, but Astruc and the team can’t seem to decide.

 

Lucky Charm is  not without its positives. For instance, episodes like Sandboy and Robustus, Ladybug gets the charm interrupted or stolen, and  _ tons _ of tension is added to the scene. Particularly in Sandboy, when Ladybug’s charm is completely negated, I found myself on the edge of my seat for the entire battle. Similarly, I find myself respecting the heroes  _ a lot _ more in episodes like Lady Wifi and Gorizilla, where the Lucky Charm is used earlier in the episode, and they just have to be clever to win at the end. And lastly, there are  _ some _ instances where the Lucky Charm is actually interesting object, and it feels like they actually still earned their victory. For example, I’ve always kind of liked the charm in Volpina, where Ladybug reflects the light to see which of the Volpinas will react.

 

In other words, I feel like the Lucky Charm is an interesting tool, with some cool uses, but more often than not, the writers just get lazy with it. 

 

Next, let’s talk about Hawkmoth, which is  _ by far _ the worst as far as making sense. I’m not even sure where to begin, so I’ll go straight to Origins, where Nooroo explains that the earrings and ring of Ladybug and Chat Noir are the most powerful Miraculous. Sounds good to me, creation and destruction, yin and yang, I’m with them.

 

Except, the Butterfly Miraculous is pretty much objectively better. With its power, Hawkmoth creates akumatized villains that are  _ way _ stronger than our heroes. Style Queen literally couldn’t even get  _ hit _ , countless have had the ability to directly mind control people in a single hit, and some, like Darkblade and Frozer, are capable of affecting the entire city at once. Obviously our heroes triumph in the end every time, but only because they’re  _ smarter _ . To actually measure the power of the akumas against the power of Ladybug and Chat Noir is laughable.

 

It’s understandable, since the villains (almost) always have to be stronger than the heroes to make an interesting story, but when the show directly  _ tells _ us that Hawkmoth’s power is inferior to theirs, then  _ shows  _ us the exact opposite, it’s quite annoying.

 

But what about Hawkmoth himself? All throughout the show, it was a headcanon of mine that Hawkmoth’s power is creating powerful champions, but in an actual fight with Ladybug or Chat Noir, he would be dramatically outclassed.

 

But then comes Heroes’ Day, where Hawkmoth manages to take out  _ both _ Ladybug and Chat Noir  _ alone _ , and with minimal effort. 

 

Excuse me, what? I literally paused the episode and stared at the screen for a moment after that before continuing. Because it doesn’t make  _ any _ sense. If Hawkmoth is that powerful, and skilled at fighting, he should just fight alongside his akumas, and our heroes would stand no chance. It really grinds my gears, because of the information we’ve been given already.

 

Origins shows us that this is his first time using the Butterfly Miraculous. While he may have some hidden background with the Miraculous (I love to speculate), there is no way in  _ hell _ that he has anywhere  _ near  _ the battle experience our protagonists have. Ladybug and Chat Noir have battled upwards of  _ fifty  _ villains by the time they face him, all with different moves, many that are dramatically more powerful than them. And yet Hawkmoth, who has fought exactly  _ once _ before then (Robustus), manages to incapacitate them.

 

It begs a lot of questions. In Animaestro, Hawkmoth leaves his lair, and arrives on the scene of the battle just a moment too late to help his villain. At this point, Ladybug and Chat Noir have both used their powers, and their timers have begun, meaning they will transform back soon. Hawkmoth has a  _ perfect _ opportunity to attack and defeat them himself. They would have no  _ chance _ of beating him, if we consider how it played out in Heroes’ Day.

 

I know why this happened. The show needed to demonstrate that Hawkmoth is a dangerous villain, and that our heroes are going to need to work hard to overcome him, but it just doesn’t make any  _ sense _ . 

 

And it annoys me as well, that the show could pretty easily weasel out of this hole, by simply saying that Hawkmoth is employing some kind of dark magic, which amplifies his power. It would explain the sheer  _ power _ of his akuma, and somewhat justify his own strength against the heroes (that’s still dumb). 

 

There’s a lot more questions too. He uses his power more than once without transforming back? But most other gripes can be explained later, and are mostly just questions. I doubt the show answers them, but I’ll give them time. I never thought we’d see the day where they actually just  _ say _ that the Miraculous give extra physical abilities (heavily implied and shown, but never said until Oblivio), so who knows?

 

But moving on to Chat Noir. With Chat, I actually like his power, cataclysm, a lot. It’s probably the coolest out of all of them (although I’m a sucker for illusions, too), and it’s not nearly as much of a writer’s convenience as the Lucky Charm is. It has a few questions that need to be answered, like how it somehow affects electronics, like in Princess Fragrance and Simon Says, but overall it’s totally fine.

 

However, the writers have grown  _ really _ lazy with it. As of the moment this rant is written, Silencer has just been released. And Silencer signals the  _ third  _ episode in a row, following Animaestro and Oblivio, where the use of Cataclysm is simply to destroy the akumatized object. It makes sense sometimes, but it’s becoming obvious that the writers do that because they want to incorporate his power somewhere, and aren’t sure how. We get the same thing in Frightengale, Frozer, Reverser, Queen Wasp, Troublemaker, Anansi, Backwarder, and even the Christmas Special for bonus points. It makes sense sometimes, like I said, especially in episodes like Queen Wasp where it’s literally the  _ only _ way to free the akuma, or in Anansi / Silencer, where the akuma is in a helmet, which would be insanely difficult to get off of the villain’s head. But more often than not, it’s like Frozer or Frightengale, where the object is just like a microphone or something and they wanted to include his power. It’s a minor gripe, but it does needle me quite a bit.

 

There’s a few other minor inconsistencies with miraculous lore on this show, such as whether or not kwamis are aware of what’s happening while the hero is transformed. Origins says definitely not, but pretty much every other episode says yes. I’ll complain briefly how the Peacock’s power is literally just the Butterfly 2.0, and the timers on the Miraculous are obviously total horse crap.

 

So why does this stuff matter?

 

In a sense, it doesn’t. A story will either rise or fall because of its characters, since that’s what we emphasize with. But like I said earlier,  _ immersion _ is important here. Every time the timer lies to me on Ladybug’s earrings, or Hawkmoth uses power far beyond what he should be able to, immersion is damaged because people  _ notice  _ these things.

 

Not only that, a consistent lore and interesting mechanics give fans a lot more freedom to speculate on these things. Whenever somebody writes an extended MLB fic, they’re to speculate on the exact mechanics of this stuff, myself included, because the show almost  _ never _ actually takes a moment to explain it. And on a show that pretty much wasted  _ all _ of Season 1 with filler, they’ve definitely had the time.

  
So no, this rant isn’t as angry as my others, but it addresses points that I think  _ do  _ matter, ultimately. So let me know what you think down below. Did I miss anything? Am I completely mistaken on some of these things? Did I miss an episode where everything gets explained in a neat and orderly fashion?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might be cutting this rant sequence off now, since it feels painfully nonconstructive, but I've had a ton of fun writing it, and I've loved all the response I've gotten! Even people who disagree with my points have been completely respectful, which is a lot better than I had feared, so thanks all!

**Author's Note:**

> There's a lot more I might say about the show, so let me know what you guys think, and your opinions as well. There's a lot of topics I didn't even touch on, so if you want me to continue, let me know what you want me to discuss. Right now I'm thinking about either Master Fu, or more discussion about Adrien getting shelved.


End file.
